Govt debt increases by 4% to Rs 39 lakh crore in July-Sept

The government’s debt in the July-September period in this financial year grew by 3.6 percent to Rs 39,00,386 crore from Rs 37,63,264 crore in the previous quarter.

The total public debt (excluding liabilities that are not classified under public debt) of the Government had grown by 5.2 percent in April-June quarter. “This represented a Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) increase of 3.6 percent (provisional) compared with an increase of 5.2 percent in the previous quarter (Q1 of FY13),” the Quarterly Report on Debt Management released by the Finance Ministry said.

[caption id=“attachment_504206” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The internal debt at Rs 35,27,405 crore constituted 34.7 percent of GDP. Reuters[/caption]

Internal debt in July-September quarter constituted 90.4 percent of public debt, compared with 89.6 percent at the end of June.

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The internal debt at Rs 35,27,405 crore constituted 34.7 percent of GDP. It was 33.2 percent at end-June 2012.

During the second quarter of the fiscal, liquidity conditions in the economy remained generally tight, though the deficit was within the Reserve Bank’s stated comfort zone of about one percent of Net Demand and Time Liabilities (NDTL) of scheduled commercial banks.

The net amount provided under Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) operations, the report added, witnessed some oscillations during the quarter.

It further said that the cash position of the government during the second quarter was generally comfortable and remained in positive territory for a major part of the period under review.

Gross tax collections during the April-August at 26.4 percent of budget estimates were higher than 25.8 percent a year ago. In the direct taxes, collections from corporation tax and personal income tax at Rs 64,900 crore and Rs 58,249 crore, respectively, showed healthy growth rates of 25.8 percent and 30.3 percent against 13.9 percent growth rate budgeted for each during FY13.

Among the major indirect taxes, growth in collections from customs and excise duties decelerated to 3.4 percent and 10.8 percent, respectively, against budgeted growth rates of 22.0 percent and 29.1 percent.

However, service tax collections increased by 33.5 percent during April-August 2012-13 as against BE growth rate of 30.5 percent.

PTI